India has a history of jugaad, and retrofitting vehicles is one such manifestation of the legendary Indian skill. Not so long ago autorickshaws and small Marutis used to strap on subsidised LPG cylinders and power themselves to a cheap ride. There were the odd explosions, lives were lost, but the jugaad continued. Then compressed natural gas (CNG) was introduced in Delhi following a court order. Initially, customised CNG kits were fitted to conventional (internal combustion engine or ICE) autos cheaply, enabling commuting at less than half of what you would cough up for diesel. The industry is better organised now with Suzuki and Hyundai designing CNG-fired vehicles, and Mahindra and TVS manufacturing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered three wheelers.
Govt mulls gradual switchover to the January-December financial year
NITI Aayog's Rajiv Kumar accused former prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram of creating a 'false narrative'
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has asked ministries, government departments, and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to send a list of assets that can be monetised under the proposed National Monetisation Pipeline. The list will be used for creation of an asset monetisation dashboard, which will keep a track of such assets. The government, meanwhile, has asked CRISIL to prepare a road map for monetising assets of PSUs and government departments.
Bharat Biotech recruited 13,000 participants for the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covaxin. This is one of the largest efficacy trials held in the country.
The official asserted that following social distancing, wearing masks, maintaining hand hygiene and avoiding big gatherings remain vital in preventing the spread of the infection.
JioMeet, which has already got the endorsement of top government officials and politicians, saw a huge surge in its ranking on Google Play, based on its downloads.
Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) K V Subramanian will be leaving the finance ministry and returning to academia on completion of his three-year term. The government had appointed Subramanian, an ISB Hyderabad professor, as the CEA in December 2018. He had succeeded Arvind Subramanian, who quit the position close to a year ahead of his extended tenure. Subramanian's three-year term would have come up for renewal in December but he decided to return to academia.
The aim of the programme is to increase the water table in the stressed areas through dams, ponds, and afforestation. According to a NITI Aayog study, by 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6 per cent loss in the country's GDP.
Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, and Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy lent support to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government's fight with the Centre.
'Supplies should start moving to the Serum Institute without any impediments.'
NITI Aayog recommendations cite the need for greater industry-academia collaboration to meet skill demand
The soap queen tells us what to expect from Bol Niti Bol.
According to Niti Aayog Member V K Paul, India is in a somewhat better position now but the country still has a long way to go because 90 per cent of the people are still susceptible to coronavirus infections.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is determined to implement the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project despite the Centre's indifference.
India's drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India has granted permission to Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla to import Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country, official sources said on Tuesday.
While Bibek Debroy echoed his view in Twitter, Pronob Sen questioned Kumar's conclusion
Deaths are significantly less in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison to the second wave, and the current surge is not witnessing increase in severe illness or death following high vaccination uptake, the government said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Saturday briefed about the new 'Omicron' variant of the coronavirus, and he asked officials to review the plans to ease international travel restrictions in light of the 'emerging new evidence.'
The Sports Ministry has made it mandatory for all the National Sports Federation (NSFs) to register themselves with NGO-PS Portal to receive grants.
The survey was carried out in wards R-north (Borivali), M-West (Mankhurd and Govandi) and F-North (Worli and Lower Parel) in the second half of August.
People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
'It was of no use if given early in mild and asymptomatic patients and also if administered too late'
Batting for holding of simultaneous elections in the country, a parliamentary committee on Tuesday said this will reduce the burden on the exchequer, expenditure of political parties and also ensure that human resources are optimally utilised.
Modi said people, especially those involved in 'blue collared' jobs, would prefer to get employment near their homes. He suggested that artificial intelligence can be used help employers meet skilled workforce.
The projects - Delhi-Varanasi, Mumbai-Nagpur, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Mysore, Delhi-Amritsar, Mumbai-Hyderabad, and Varanasi-Howrah - are expected to cost around Rs 10 trillion.
Fitch Ratings on Monday said the plan to privatise two state-owned banks in the current financial year ending March 2022 could face delays amid renewed challenges for the Indian banking sector due to the second wave of Covid-19. The government in the Budget announced plans to privatise two public-sector banks. NITI Aayog has been entrusted with the task of selecting the banks and one general insurance company for the privatisation.
Social activist Anna Hazare said he won't be proceeding with the indefinite fast against the new farm laws and claimed that the Central government has agreed to some of his demands.
Union Health Secretary said that priority groups have been decided who are vulnerable to mortality.
Does IAS officers' work go unappreciated, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
Experts believe that states will be in a predicament because of their tight fiscal position and reluctance to replace their own health schemes with this newly announced National Health Protection Scheme.
According to the sources, there are limited prospects of J&J exporting its vaccine from the US to other countries in the near future and the "entire production" at the BE facilities in India, beginning July/August, will be handed over to the pharma giant under a contract between the companies.
Once the bankruptcy provisions are notified, these proprietary firms will benefit, as Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board plans to consider them as individuals
The EC said that the data should be deleted by health authorities once the vaccination exercise concludes.
"We commend your leadership and the proactive measures you and your government have taken to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 infection rate in India, such as adopting a national lockdown, expanding focused testing to identify hot spots for isolation, quarantining, and care, and significantly increasing health expenditures to strengthen the health system response and promote R&D and digital innovation," Gates wrote.
In a statement, the medical body said that the emergency services including casualty, labour rooms, emergency surgeries will function along with ICUs, CCUs, but no elective surgical case will be posted.
"I have appointed a task force to speedily identify the projects so that money can be frontloaded," she said.
